Melrose teen suspected of bomb hoaxes

Friday

May 16, 2014 at 5:23 PMMay 28, 2014 at 8:16 PM

By Jessica Sacco / jsacco@wickedlocal.com

(NOTE: Story was updated on May 22.)A student faces felony charges after police identified him as the suspect in two recent bomb hoaxes at Melrose High School.The 17-year-old will be charged with two counts of making a threat concerning the location of dangerous items or a hijack (to wit a bomb threat).He was due to be arraigned on Wednesday, May 21, at the Middlesex County Juvenile Court in Cambridge, after he was summonsed to court earlier this month. The Middlesex District Attorney’s Office will prosecute the case.The charges stem from false bomb threats made at the high school on April 17 and on Dec. 4.In the case last month, a student found a written note on a piece of paper in the third-floor boys’ bathroom with the threat of a bomb.Back in December, a similar message was found on the wall of a third-floor boys’ bathroom.During both incidents, several law enforcement agencies searched the school with K9 units and found nothing.After the April incident, officials amped up their search for the culprit — offering a reward of up to $5,000 to anyone who could provide useful information leading to the prosecution of the responsible individual.Police also conducted interviews with school officials and students to obtain information related to the suspect."We then utilized a handwriting analysis expert to examine the evidence at the scene, which was the note on April 17, as well a sample from the previous threat, and compared that to samples provided by school administrators of the person of interest," Police Lt. Mark DeCroteau told the Free Press.Based on the evidence gathered during the investigation, police were able to identify the suspect.At this point, no one is slated to receive the reward money, DeCroteau said.Mayor Rob Dolan commended the work of the Melrose Police Department, the Middlesex DA’s Office and the school department in apprehending the suspect."Now it is time for the justice system to perform its vital responsibilities," he said in a press release. "There is nothing more important than making sure every student, teacher and parent feels safe in our school buildings."Another bomb threat, which was made at Melrose High earlier in the school year, remains under investigation.